Huriyat accuses Omar of changing stand on J-K

Omar told reporters in Jammu yesterday that he had never questioned accession of the state to India

Moderate Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq today accused Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of changing stands on accession of the state to India.

"Declaring Jammu and Kashmir as integral part of India is an old habit of leaders of this party (National Conference), which changes colours like chameleon," a spokesman of the Hurriyat said in a statement.

Omar told reporters in Jammu yesterday that he had never questioned accession of the state to Union of India.

Earlier, in a meeting with a European Union delegation here in September, he had said that accession of the state was based on four matters - defence, foreign affairs, communications and currency - only.

The spokesman said the National Conference leaders have a tradition of making different statements at different places "for achieving their political goals".

"The historic reality of the state cannot be changed by declaring it as integral part of India," he said.

The spokesman said Omar's statement was vote bank politics as "it is tradition of the party and its leader to exploit the sentiments of the people".